A large waterspout has come ashore over the coastline of Oldsmar in Florida, to the amazement of onlookers who captured the phenomenon on video.

Residents of the Tampa Bay area of Florida were amazed to see a huge column of water hovering over their homes on Monday.

The waterspout came over the coastline of Oldsmar before hitting land and becoming a tornado.

Cleanup crews worked quickly and, by Tuesday afternoon the only signs of damage were an uprooted mailbox, and knocked down tree branches. No injuries were reported.

"I was so excited, I just wanted to see this thing," said David Necker, who recorded video on his mobile phone before and after driving away from his house in case the waterspout caused significant damage. "I couldn't believe it. Fifteen years living here, and it's the first time I've ever seen anything so incredible."

Abram Carawan was also mesmerised by the sight and posted this video clip of it on YouTube.

The National Weather Service has confirmed that isolated thunderstorms in the Tampa Bay area produced the waterspout. Generally, waterspouts are tornados that occur over water in which a continuous vortex, sometimes hundreds of metres high, extends from a cloud to the water surface.